Replacement Super decathlon...

Well, I had a brownout on my 20A ESC last Sunday when flying my older super Decathlon. I found out that my 2200Kv motor system, even governed at 90% throttle, still runs around 21.7 Ap! The system cut out, and took 6 seconds to reboot - during which time I had NO control. The system came back too late, and the plane crashed, nose-first.

My previous airframe I had before this one had the landing gear rip out upon an overly hard landing (weak point of the plane anyway), so I had this cut out, and trimmed, and used a Mini Funtana gear form E-Flite put in place. The gear assembly fit my axles and wheels no problem, and I used a piece of foam plate shaped to act as a cover after affixing the gear strut. This was done by bolting it onto the underside of the carriage, using 2.5mm, 15mm long capscrews and lock nuts/washers. Epoxy-Graphite was used to reinforce the system. It is rock-solid, a bit heavier (about 4g) than stock, and 2" wider, and almost 1" taller than the stock gear. Pictures are below.

The plane required some rear tail counterweights to balance, but this was no problem. Maiden showed that the thrust axis (from stock) required a lesser down angle and just a touch less right thrust. Landings are solid and sure, even in depper grass to about 3". Plenty of prop clearance for the 8x6 E-Flite prop on there now. The plane has a bit more lateral momentum due ot the larger struts, but this is not a problem and may make it handle windy conditions a bit better - time will tell.

A custom tailwheel assembly was made using an Esprit min tail wheel, and I cut and shaped the wire to permit the unit to sit into a previously-installed Dubro micro tail wheel mount that it had prior. I used two red plastic spray tubes of different sizes to act as a shim and bearing into the hole on the tail wheel main axle. The system is secured using a lock washer on the base and a collet on the top to sandwich the system and act as the tailwheel axle. A small connecting wire allows movement with the rudder, without undue stresses associated with a more direct connection.